Sunlight Can Help Prevent Skin Cancer Study Finds

Skin Cancer is one thing that is always on everyone’s mind during the hot summer days when it just begs you to be outside by the pool or at the lake taking in the air, sun and fun. But a lot of that fun has been tempered by the concern about too much sun exposure and skin cancer.

So, we have begun to slap on a whole lot of sun block skin cream, cover up most everything, and worry about the kids especially so they don’t get too much sun. Why – well since the 1980′s all we have heard from our physician and the cancer groups is that too much direct sunlight on the skin has potential health dangers – mainly skin cancers.

Because of that, some of us have gone so far as to avoid as much sun as possible and cover up totally when we do have to go out plus using the highest UV sun cream we can find.

But was all of this really needed or necessary? We know that the sun is needed on our skin for our bodies to produce Vitamin D and we also know that virtually everyone these days is sorely lacking in having enough Vitamin D. That is not a good thing and is causing us problems.

On top of that, we may be actually increasing our chances of getting skin cancers and other things too by not having enough sun exposure.

Leeds University researchers in 2009 did a study that determined that higher levels of Vitamin D were linked to improved skin cancer survival odds. Additional studies have found that Vitamin D has a connection to a strong immune response in our bodies and may even hasten the demise of tumor cells.

But those findings do not do most of us much good since we are all so low in Vitamin D. And most of us don’t take supplements or do so at far too low a level.

It seems as if that little vitamin D is also responsible for helping fight off a host of other things too – prostate cancer, bowel cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, rickets, osteoporosis and more.

These diseases have been on the rise for quite a number of years and one main cause has been the avoidance of sunlight due to all the media coverage by so many experts warning against sun exposure.

And at the same time, most of the main stream health community has totally downplayed the importance of vitamins and minerals in our diets. According to the FDA, they have no benefit at all and we get more than enough in our daily food. They actively have discouraged people from taking supplements even though there are tons of studies like this one that show the exact opposite conclusion.

But the Leeds study has shown that we should be getting more sun not less and supplementing might not be such a bad idea after despite the questionable opinion of the FDA.

Today, as always, we are still seeing mainstream media pieces warning you to not get too much sun exposure. This is two years after the Leeds study reported its findings. The mainstream media seems to be rather slow in reporting something that might go against the profits of the cancer industry.

Now having too much sun is also not good. Going to the beach and baking so you get that really deep tan might look fantastic, but does not bode well for your skin later on in life and may contribute to having skin problems or even cancers. So moderation is the order of the day.

If you combine more sun exposure with a daily walk, well now you are starting to really help out your body. Most of us do not get sufficient exercise either and combining the two is a great idea. It can be fun to just stroll along, and the lucky people who have access to wooded land, a park, or even just country fields are making some of us a bit envious – that is a lot nicer place to walk in than a concrete street filled with traffic. Some of us have that as our only option, but we can dream.

Another benefit of the daily walk is that you will gradually get a nice tan and you can lay off the sunscreen with all of those chemicals that you are putting on and absorbing into your skin.

Some studies have indicated that they may be harmful because they generate free radicals in the body when exposed to sunlight. Nice, we use the sunscreens to get one form of protection and end up causing us an additional problem that may be worse.

Free radicals are not so hot and certainly contribute to aging the skin more rapidly and also to internal damage of our bodies. Too many of them and we have problems.

So, all in all, like most things in life, the "experts" who make these pronouncements are usually proven to only be partly right.

Changing our lives drastically because of what they say is not always a good thing. Far too often we find out a few years down the road that some of their most dire predictions are completely off the mark – like this one with the sun exposure.

So take the medical experts opinions with moderation and you will likely be closer to doing what you really need to do to stay healthy.